MOUNT Gambier’s Crater Lakes Disc Golf Park is set to host the 2019 Australian Disc Golf Championships, after the installation of the permanent course was finished at the start of this year.
The facility has been said to be among the top four of its kind in Australia and Mount Gambier Disc Golf president Ryan Nicholson was encouraged to put a bid in for Nationals following a successful South Australian Open hosted at the venue earlier this year.
“Since I first started looking at getting a course installed here, I thought the area was good enough,” Nicholson said.
“I knew if we did a proper install to the highest quality, that we could potentially get a top level event like the Nationals here.
“It was always a dream.”
Nicholson said the current dates discussed with council for the event are November 22 to 24 (Friday to Sunday), while he will apply for a practice day on the Thursday when the official submission is made.
He also hopes to make use of sections of the other side of the Valley Lake area for some temporary pop-up holes to add another level to the course.
Nicholson’s sister Renae Nicholson will take on the role of tour director for the championship and will oversee the event, but will be ineligible to compete.
Hosting the SA Open in May, it was the perfect opportunity to test how the course would perform in a major event.
Adelaide lacks courses which can accommodate for large events and that loophole has allowed Nicholson to showcase the picturesque Crater Lakes facility.
“We got the South Australian Open here this year, which was almost like a trial run to see how the course held up,” he said.
“That was a massively successful event.
“Straight away, the Australian Disc Golf president asked me there and then to put a bid in for Nationals.”
With the bid successful, Nicholson is “absolutely chuffed” with how far the course and the sport has come in the Blue Lake city in such a short period.
The attendance at the club’s monthly meetings is steadily improving, but Nicholson said it is the groups he has seen using the course in their own time which is most rewarding.
“We only have monthly events, but we are always seeing new people and new faces,” he said.
“Probably more exciting is we are always seeing people use the course.
“Families and groups – we see people out there playing with frizbees they bought from Kmart.
“They are out there enjoying the course and that is as important as people competing in our club events.”
At the SA Open competitors capped off the event with a “sacrifice to the gods” which Nicholson believes will be a draw card for all future events.
“We had a competition for some players who got to throw from Centenary Tower, down to the actual course,” he said.
“It is a ridiculous distance.
“We had $1000 riding on someone who could get an ace (hole-in-one) from that throw and $100 for whoever got the closest.
“We are hoping to do that for Nationals as well and hopefully get some sponsorship and have it as a finishing point for all our major events.”
Nicholson expects about 100 competitors at Nationals, while he said there will be potentially two major events at the course prior to the Australian Championships next year.
“We are hosting an event in January, the Centenary Championships,” he said.
“There is a guy in Geelong sort of taking control of it, he wants to bring over a heap of players from Geelong to play the course.
“We are hoping to get next year’s SA Open as well.”
Nicholson and fellow Mount Gambier disc golfer Michelle Schulz will attend this year’s Nationals in Canberra next month and will hope for some positive results in preparation for a big year at the Crater Lakes Disc Golf Park.
